A Familiar Face
by Krazy Ky-Sta Hatter
Summary: When Rose runs into the 9th Doctor in the Parallel universe, she might just have her ticket home. Can she win him over? And is he really who she thinks he is? Rose/9 Rose/10


_**This is a little something I wrote a while ago. Hope you like it!**_

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Rose gazed unseeingly out at the crowd before her. In so many ways this world was just like hers. But it wasn't, as much as she wished it were. And yet even when she wasn't looking, she still was. She tried not to. She knew she would never see him again. But she couldn't help but look at every person and hope to see him.

Sometimes she would see someone that looked like him and her hope would flare to life. Like that person there – he was tall and skinny. And that man there had the same hair colour and style.

And that man there, he was bald and had big ears and a leather jacket and… Oh my God!

"Doctor!" she cried in surprise. He didn't see or hear her as he retreated into the crowd. She was _sure_ it had been him! "Doctor!" She got up and sprinted after him. Finally she caught up to him and as an automatic reaction, she grabbed his hand. "Doctor?"

Then man turned to face her, and her heart soared. It was him. It was really him. It was her Doctor, the way he had been before he had regenerated.

"Oh," he said in his Northern accent, looking at her. "Um, hello." A look of confusion came over his face. He didn't understand why the girl before him looked so hopeful. "Ah, I'm sorry, do I know you yet?" he said.

"Hold on…" Rose said, a little bit of doubt in her mind. What if somehow he was a human here in this universe? To convince herself she reached up and placed her hands on his chest, a hand over where each heart should be. She let out a sigh of relief when she felt two hearts pounding against them. Before she could stop herself she reached up and ran a hand along the side of his face, taking in his familiar blue eyes. He looked so much younger and carefree than the brooding man she remembered. A little worn and tired, but he didn't look like he carried the deaths of his world and entire race and the dependence of the universe on his shoulders. "You're your old self again," she whispered. "Well… you must be a parallel version of him."

"Parallel, yes!" he said happily. "I'm sorry, what?"

"My Doctor," she told him. "He used to look like you. But he regenerated."

"Ah, right. Your Parallel Doctor," he smiled. She smiled in return. She didn't care if it wasn't _her_ Doctor. It was just so good to see him. She found tears springing to her eyes.

"Oh my god, do you still have the TARDIS in this universe?" she asked.

"Well, she's a little cranky at the moment, but yes."

Suddenly she noticed that she was still holding his hand. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said letting go. "Force of habit."

"It's alright," he said. He gestured for her to follow and together they walked out of the crowd and walked through the park. "So, you and this Parallel Doctor were close?"

"Very," she smiled. "I was his companion for two years… before we got separated." Her face took on a pained look. "I never did get to hear the last thing he said…"

"Are you okay?" the Parallel Doctor asked in concern, seeing her on the verge of tears.

"Yeah," she said in a strained voice, sitting down on a bench. He sat down next to her. "I just miss him. I want to be home with him… But I'm stuck here. Trapped in this stinking parallel universe."

"You're from a parallel universe?" he said in surprise. Rose looked at him.

"I thought you'd figured that one out, Doctor," she half teased.

"Ah, right, you have a Parallel Doctor, of course you're from a parallel universe," he said warily. "But how are you trapped? Can't he just come back for you?"

She shook her head sadly, tears running down her cheeks now. "Don't be cruel, Doctor. You know why he can't. The walls between the universes are closed. It's not possible."

"Of course it is!" he scoffed. "The only way that would happen, was if there were next to no Time Lords left."

Rose looked up at him sharply. "Th-there are still Time Lords here?" she whispered.

"What do you mean?" he said worryingly. His face fell at the look she was giving him.

"Wh-where I come from… You are the last Time Lord left. The others all died in the Last Great Time War…"

"Oh…" he said, a shadow crossing his face. "We haven't had one of those… h-here." Sympathetically she squeezed his hand. Then something dawned on her.

"Wait a minute!" she cried, hope lighting up her face. "You said it was possible! You said that _you_ could cross between universes!"

"Yes, I did," he said in bewilderment, not quite understanding what she was getting at.

"Can you take me back?" she begged. "Please, you have to take me back!" her voice cracked. "Please, I have to go back to him. I love him!" The Doctor's clear blue eyes rose to find hers. "When we first met, I was just a stupid ape working in a shop. Then he saved me. He took my hand… and he said 'run'. And we never stopped running… we just kept going. And if I had it my way, I would never had let go of his hand for a single moment. Through the first regeneration and the next… I never heard what he said… When we were saying goodbye. I thought, perhaps, he was going to say he loved me, but we ran out of time." The tears continued to flow down her cheeks and a sob escaped her lips.

For a long time the Doctor just looked at her. "Okay," he said quietly. "Okay, I'll take you." Rose looked up at him and gasped, and then she threw her arms around him, a huge grin on her face.

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When they reached the TARDIS her grin grew even more. She never thought she'd see her again! Before the Doctor could unlock the door for her, she stepped forward and took the key from around her neck – she'd never taken it off – and opened the door. Instantly upon entering she began stroking the console and parts of the coral.

"Hello old girl," she whispered tenderly. "I've missed you." The TARDIS seemed to purr happily, as if she remembered her - even though that was impossible.

The Doctor began flicking switches and pressing buttons. The TARDIS took off with a huge crash.

"Sorry," the Doctor shouted. "She doesn't really like travelling between universes much. It's like putting diesel in a petrol engine!"

The ride was bumpier than usual. But Rose didn't care. She felt overwhelmingly joyful. This was it… She was going to be with her Doctor again.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor landed the TARDIS and stepped out. It was still night time, and the ground was still covered in 'snow' from the atmospheric excitation. It had barely been minutes since he had left Mr Copper. The shadow of the Powell Estate was now looming over him.

Why did he do this to himself? He should be off on some distant planet trying to distract himself. Instead he had come to the one place he knew would bring him the most torture. She didn't live there anymore… and someone else had moved in. But still he could remember that Christmas. Just shortly after changing into this body. He had stood in this very spot as he and Rose watched the ash fall. And the joy he felt when she told him she still wanted to travel with him.

There was another memory like this too. One he had locked away… forbidden himself from remembering.

Suddenly he was startled to hear the TARDIS. He whipped around to see a second TARDIS appearing next to his. His mouth fell open in shock. He was even more bewildered when Rose and the last incarnation of himself stepped out.

What? He didn't remember this! And… no, he couldn't do this; it was crossing his time line. And he couldn't let Rose find out what had happened to her and her mother.

Rose saw him and her face broke out in a huge grin.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, walking over to her. "You must be Rose Tyler. Your mum, Jackie, said you might be popping by. She wanted me to tell you she's gone on holiday."

"Oh shut up you big idiot!" she grinned. The next thing he knew, her arms were wrapped around her neck and she was kissing him. He knew he shouldn't have, but he couldn't help but kiss her back. Meeting her with the same ferocity, a hunger that rocked him to the core. She finally broke it off out of need of oxygen. "Oh god, I've missed you, Doctor!" she cried.

His mouth fell open and she giggled at him. "How did…" he trailed off. Rose looked back at the past him and suddenly seemed to understand.

"Oh no, I'm not a past Rose, Doctor. It's me! It's really me. I'm back!" He just stared at her a moment, his eyes wide.

"But – but how?"

"Parallel Doctor," she grinned pointing over her shoulder. "He had enough energy from the Time Lords to travel through." He looked confused at this, but he really didn't care. He had his Rose back. He pulled her to him.

"Oh, Rose Tyler," he gasped. "I love you!" And then his lips were on hers again.

He never thought he would be this happy again. But she was here. She was back. And he was never going to let her go this time.

**?...DW…?**

The Doctor watched as the blonde girl and the other him embraced. He had so much reeling through his mind. Everything the girl had told him. He couldn't believe it really. The Last of the Time Lords. The knowledge of that weighed heavily on his shoulders.

Sighing, he stepped back into the TARDIS. Once he was gone she would never know. She didn't need to know that she had gotten it wrong. When she had said he was from a parallel universe, he had agreed because he had thought that she belonged to that one. Not here. Not where he was from too.

It was horrible. Dead, they would all be dead and he would some day be the only one… he had left the front lines, he didn't want to fight anymore. But it was only for a short time. He'd found a loophole in the Lock, used it for a quick break… there was nothing else he could do anyway. And he knew that he would have to go back. Mentally he steeled himself for what he knew would one day come.

But he could also live in hope. Because he knew that at the end of it all, there would be a girl who loved him. A girl who burned like the sun. He knew that one day he would save a beautiful girl in the basement of a shop. And he would love her like he'd never loved anyone before.

With this thought, he took the memories of the past day, and locked them away. Locked them in the deepest depths of his mind, where he wouldn't be able to remember them for a very long time…

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><p><em><strong>Yep, he's our Doctor. I kept thinking of what the Doctor said in 'Rise of the Cybermen', that "When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, took it all with them." I couldn't help but think if the Doctor sill had power from the Time Lords, because to him, they were still alive, then it would work.<strong>_

_**But of course, for Rose to recognise him, he would have to be 9. It would have probably been more accurate time wise with 8, but she didn't know him. Also I wanted him to be in the Time War at the same time, so I invented a Loophole in the Time Lock… probably at the precise moment Dalek Caan broke through.**_

_**So a little inaccurate, but I thought it was a good idea.**_

_**And so you all have a peace of mind (even though I haven't written this and can't really be bothered, since it's repeating a lot of my other stories), to save Rose's life of Satellite 5, the TARDIS bound her life-force with Rose so that she'd live. So Rose will live as long as the TARDIS does, which (as hinted in Christmas Invasion) is as long as the Doctor does. They go on to pick up Donna and have the rest of the adventures with the exception of Handy existing. (Who knows, crazy mixed up stuff could happen).**_

_**Actually… it would be interesting to see Donna's reaction if she came along when Rose was there. So… maybe if you ask very nicely (BEG! Mwahahaha!) I might write them finding out about the bond, meeting Donna, and sorting out the last episode.**_

_**Anyway, I hope you liked it.**_


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